om which
kept him from that folly, and taught him to appreciate fully the value
of independence. But he was ever remembering how many shillings there
are in a pound, and how many pence in a shilling. He had a great eye to
discount, and looked closely into his bills. He searched for cheap
shops; and some men began to say of him that he had found a cheap
establishment for such wines as he did not drink himself! In playing
cards and in betting, he was very careful, never playing high, never
risking much, but hoping to turn something by the end of the year, and
angry with himself if he had not done so. An unamiable man he was, but
one whose heir would probably not quarrel with him--if only he would die
soon enough. He had always had a house in town--a moderate house in
Berkeley Square, which belonged to him, and had belonged to his father
before him. Lady Clavering had usually lived there during the season;
or, as had latterly been the case, during only a part of the season. And
now it had come to pass, in this year, that Lady Clavering was not to
come to London at all, and that Sir Hugh was meditating whether the
house in Berkeley Square might not be let. The arrangement would make
the difference of considerably more than a thousand a year to him. For
himself, he would take lodgings. He had no idea of giving up London in
the Spring and early Summer. But why keep up a house in Berkeley Square,
as Lady Clavering did not use it?

He was partly driven to this by a desire to shake off the burden of his
brother. When Archie chose to go to Clavering, the house was open to
him. That was the necessity of Sir Hugh's position, and he could not
avoid it unless he made it worth his while to quarrel with his brother.
Archie was obedient, ringing the bell when he was told, looking after
the horses, spying about, and perhaps saving as much money as he cost.
But the matter was very different in Berkeley Square. No elder brother
is bound to find breakfast and bed for a younger brother in London. And
yet, from his boyhood upward, Archie had made good his footing in
Berkeley Square. In the matter of the breakfast, Sir Hugh had indeed, of
late, got the better of him. The servants were kept on board wages, and
there were no household accounts. But there was Archie's room, and Sir
Hugh felt this to be a hardship.

The present was not the moment for actually driving forth the intruder,
for Archie was now up in London, especially under his brothe